Comments on: Pre Impressions from a Palm Fanboy

By: J4yDubs

J4yDubs — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:22:16 +0000

“Much like their ‘proprietary’ desktop machines. I prefer the closed nature of Apple, because I don’t have time to jerk with most of the stuff that screws up my Windows machines (at work). Cut me off, as far as I care, and if I really have to dig in, let me hack it. But don’t leave it in the consumers hands.”

How would you feel about having these features (selective multitasking and app store only software) on your laptop? It would mean better battery life after all. My guess is you’d have a problem with that. Why should your smart phone be different?

John

By: Ben

Ben — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:01:26 +0000

Frank, This is why the pre is a perfect compromise. It allows you to multitask(unlike the iphone) and it will protect the reg consumer by stopping them from opening to many cards(unlike windows mobile which just crashes)

By: Frank Furter

Frank Furter — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:45:36 +0000

@Gregg & others – I am with Apple on much of the background task items. You said let the consumer judge, but that’s the whole issue. Most consumers are idiots, and if you let them run a lot of background tasks, it will therefore kill the battery life, which will therefore make the iPhone not as useful. Which will therefore kill sales.

Much like their ‘proprietary’ desktop machines. I prefer the closed nature of Apple, because I don’t have time to jerk with most of the stuff that screws up my Windows machines (at work). Cut me off, as far as I care, and if I really have to dig in, let me hack it. But don’t leave it in the consumers hands.

By: Steve Lunceford

Steve Lunceford — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 02:57:46 +0000

Dave – Yahoo has now been added to synergy; I personally just tested it and it seemed to sync fine (killing it, though, as my Yahoo account is basically spam-bait)

Terry – I have held and iPhone and I was referring to the overall feel of the phone, which some had deemed “cheap;” I don’t see it that way. Now overall build quality I’m still waiting to see, the only issue I’ve seen is that it appears some of my microusb cords that fit snugly now do not seem to fit as snugly.

Anonymous – Would agree that’s a good idea, but it would be only one contact at a time, not as convenient as opening a page full of most dialed.

Tom – actually, in late 2007 a bunch of manufacturers and carriers agreed to push microUSB as a go-forward connection standard; google “micro usb cell phone standard” and you’ll see some stories.

Another annoyance post-review: lack of file system for videos. Vids get added in stacked in alphabetical order. You can’t put into a “TV” folder or “Movie” folder or “SpongeBob” folder; that should be fixed.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 01:42:06 +0000

You can add contacts with photos to your launcher and create your own picture dialing solution…

By: Tom Birkland

Tom Birkland — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:29:27 +0000

I am a Palm fanboy too, and I agree with a lot of this review–most of it, in fact.

I will just focus on the micro-usb connector. Just what the world needs–another nonstandard connector. I have nothing else in my gadget world that uses this. Why not a mini-USB of the same type that syncs and charges my MP3 player and connects to my camera? I have several of these laying around. The connector is also in an awkward place–on the side–which is in the way when using the phone in a car or otherwise connected to power.

I also agree with the need for syncing notes and tasks. Without this, these apps on the pre are useless. Perhaps if Docs to Go comes to pre I can continue to use my fairly slick excel-based to do system.

Good news: the car mount that worked for my Palm 755p works just fine with my pre! I was surprised, but it’s really good to have for the GPS features. Also, while the connector on the side is in the way and doesn’t play well with the phone holder, if you slide out the keyboard and then put it in the holder, it works pretty well.

By: kubricklove

kubricklove — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 19:31:38 +0000

The iPhone does have multi-tasking. I am listening to music and surfing the web as I type this. The problem is Apple limits the multi-tasking to Apples core apps, like email, iPod, Safari etc.

By: Terry

Terry — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 06:54:31 +0000

If you think the Pre does not feel cheap then you have never held an iPhone. Then you complain your USB port is falling apart. Which is it?

Sprint is a terrible partner for Palm.

8 GB is not enough. At least have a 16 GB version for more $$$

The latest iPhone has a significant increase in battery life putting it well over the Palm.

A whole lot of people, myself included, find the Palm keyboard unusable. Also a whole lot of people, myself included, have no issue with the iPhone on screen keyboard. YMMV and what you like or dislike does not make it an absolute.

Palm was clobbered by the new iPhone announcement coming a few days after the pre announcement.

Right now my third iPhone is an easy choice over the pre but I wish it wasn’t. Competition is good and AT&T sure as hell needs some competition.

Might not be a bad idea if dell does buy Palm and gets the pre on Verizon. As long as they don’t screw it up which I think Dell is fully capable of doing the Pre might have a chance.

I almost forgot..i looked at one of two demo Pre’s in an empty Sprint store here in Phoenix the other day. A sales drone came up and asked if I had any questions, I did, none of which he could answer. Then he just walked away. Nice work Sprint.